Call of Duty: Warzone is Activision’s second take on the battle royale genre. Last year, Treyarch developed the first iteration, Blackout, within Black Ops 4. The big difference between the two battle royales is that Warzone doesn’t require you to own the base game, which in this case is Modern Warfare. With that fact alone, Infinity Ward’s battle royale is already a step ahead of Blackout. So, does this mean that Blackout will completely die now that the free-to-play Warzone has launched?
What will happen to Blackout?
There’s no denying that Warzone is more popular upon release than Blackout was. Not only is it free-to-play, but it’s also cross-platform and released separately from Modern Warfare. Blackout required a $60 purchase and kept you stuck with teammates from your same platform.
However, even with all of these factors stacking up against Blackout, the game won’t drop off the face of the earth. There’s still a dedicated, albeit small, fanbase that will continue to hop on Treyarch’s version day after day.
While Warzone did improve a ton of areas from Blackout, it is a rather different experience. The map is 3-5x larger than Blackout’s, and there are more people in every match, meaning that games take longer. The 1v1 Gulag Pit also doesn’t help with match speed.
Currently, the Call of Duty fanbase is in the “Honeymoon Phase” with Warzone. This just means that, since the game just released, everyone is having a blast exploring the intricacies that Warzone has to offer. However, after this phase concludes, which is usually about a month down the line, some fans will start to notice the game’s flaws.
If Activision and Infinity Ward can put out frequent updates to please the fanbase after the initial hype has died down, Warzone will be successful. But if the game’s issues aren’t fixed in a timely manner, we could see some players going back to Blackout.
Which battle royale do you like more? Let us know, and keep up with Daily Esports for your Call of Duty and Warzone news.
